Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series – serie

Keep healthy, productive bees without chemicals, stress, or constant intervention. Master beekeeper reveals natural methods that work with bee biology instead of against it, producing more honey with less work while building stronger, disease-resistant colonies.Why Chemical-Free Beekeeping Works Better:Conventional beekeeping relies on treatments that weaken bee immunity and create dependency. This natural approach strengthens hives from within, resulting in healthier bees, better honey yields, and dramatically reduced colony losses.What You'll MasterNatural hive management - work with bee instincts rather than fighting them Chemical-free disease prevention - build immunity through nutrition and environmentStress-free seasonal care - minimal intervention techniques that bees prefer Honey harvesting ethics - take surplus while ensuring winter survivalProblem diagnosis - read bee behavior to prevent issues before they startResults You Can Expect:Beekeepers using these methods report 90% lower colony losses, 40% higher honey yields, and 75% less time spent on hive maintenance compared to conventional chemical-dependent approaches.Transform beekeeping from constant worry to joyful partnership with nature. Your bees (and your harvest) will thank you.

Grow Fresh Vegetables Year-Round Using Only the Sun Produce abundant fruits and vegetables through fall, winter, and early spring without paying for heat. Chinese solar greenhouses—earth-sheltered, east-west oriented, well-insulated, and intelligently glazed—allow you to grow warm-weather crops in cold climates using passive solar energy alone.What You'll Gain and Learn Design and Build your Greenhouse: Step-by-step guidance for creating a self-sufficient, solar-powered structure.Maximize Heat Efficiency: Techniques to store solar energy and keep crops warm on cold nights.Extend your Growing Season: Grow tomatoes, peppers, and other warm-weather vegetables, even in freezing temperatures.Summer Cooling Solutions: Maintain optimal growing conditions without losing energy.Flexible Growing Methods: Harvest year-round using soil beds or aquaponic systems.Written by Dan Chiras, PhD, author of 38 books on solar energy, sustainability, and self-sufficiency, this guide blends practical instruction with proven strategies. His methods have been featured in Mother Earth News, Solar Today, and Home Power, and he has taught workshops for the American Solar Energy Society and University of Colorado.Transform your backyard into a productive, solar-powered garden and enjoy fresh produce year-round. With clear illustrations, actionable tips, and step-by-step guidance, building and operating your own Chinese greenhouse has never been easier.

Hydroelectricity is the world's largest-and cleanest-source of renewable -energy. But despite lively interest in renewables generally, there is an information vacuum about the smallest version of the technology dubbed "the simplest, most reliable and least expensive way to generate power off grid." Highly illustrated and practical, Microhydro is the first complete book on the topic in a decade. Covering both AC and DC systems, it covers principles, design and site considerations, equipment options, and legal, environmental, and economic factors. Scott Davis has decades of experience operating, installing, designing, selling, and teaching about microhydro technology. An award-winner in the field, he currently works as a system designer and retailer with an alternative energy company for whom he has authored an on-line microhydro course.

Over 70 percent of Americans cannot afford to own a code-enforced, contractor-built home. This has led to widespread interest in using natural materials-straw, cob, and earth-for building homes and other buildings that are inexpensive, and that rely largely on labor rather than expensive and often environmentally-damaging outsourced materials. Earthbag Building is the first comprehensive guide to all the tools, tricks, and techniques for building with bags filled with earth-or earthbags. Having been introduced to sandbag construction by the renowned Nader Khalili in 1993, the authors developed this "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" over the last decade. A reliable method for constructing homes, outbuildings, garden walls and much more, this enduring, tree-free architecture can also be used to create arched and domed structures of great beauty-in any region, and at home, in developing countries, or in emergency relief work.This profusely illustrated guide first discusses the many merits of earthbag construction, and then leads the reader through the key elements of an earthbag building: Special design considerations Foundations, walls and floors Electrical, plumbing and shelving Lintels, windows and door installations Roofs, arches and domes Exterior and interior plasters. With dedicated sections on costs, making your own specialized tools, and building code considerations, as well as a complete resources guide, Earthbag Building is the long-awaited, definitive guide to this uniquely pleasing construction style. Kaki Hunter and Donald Kiffmeyer have been involved in the construction industry for the last 20 years, specializing in affordable, low-tech, low-impact building methods that are as natural as possible. They developed the "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" of building affordably with earthbags and have taught the subject and contributed their expertise to several books and journals on natural building.

Many natural building methods rely upon the use of post and beam frame structures that are then in-filled with straw, cob, cordwood, or more conventional wall materials. But traditional timber framing employs the use of finely crafted jointing and wooden pegs, requiring a high degree of craftsmanship and training, as well as much time and expense. However, there is another way ...Timber Framing for the Rest of Us describes the timber framing methods used by most contractors, farmers and owner-builders-methods that use modern metal fasteners, special screws and common sense building principles to accomplish the same goal in much less time. And while there are many good books on traditional timber framing, this is the first to describe in depth these more common fastening methods.The book includes everything an owner-builder needs to know about building strong and beautiful structural frames from heavy timbers, including: the historical background of timber framing crucial design and structural considerations procuring timbers-including different woods and recycled materials foundations, roofs and in-filling considerations the common fasteners A detailed case study of a timber frame project from start to finish completes this practical and comprehensive guide, along with a useful appendix of span tables and a bibliography. Highly illustrated, this book enables "the rest of us" to build like the professionals and will appeal to owner-builders, contractors and architects alike. Rob Roy is a former contractor with 11 previous books to his credit. He has been utilizing timber framing techniques for the past 25 years in the construction of homes, as well as in the numerous outbuildings at Earthwood Building School which he founded in 1981 with his wife, Jaki. He is most recently the author of Cordwood Building: The State of the Art (New Society, 2003).

An earth-sheltered, earth-roofed home has the least impact upon the land of all housing styles, leaving almost zero footprint on the planet. Earth-Sheltered Houses is a practical guide for those who want to build their own underground home at moderate cost. It describes the benefits of sheltering a home with earth, including the added comfort and energy efficiency from the moderating influence of the earth on the home's temperature (keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer), along with the benefits of low maintenance and the protection against fire, sound, earthquake, and storm afforded by the earth. Extra benefits from adding an earth or other living roof option include greater longevity of the roof substrate, fine aesthetics, and environmental harmony. The book covers all of the various construction techniques involved, including details on planning, excavation, footings, floor, walls, framing, roofing, waterproofing, insulation, and drainage.Specific methods appropriate for the inexperienced owner/builder are a particular focus and include: * Pouring one's own footings and/or floor * The use of dry-stacked (surface-bonded) concrete block walls * Post-and-beam framing * Plank-and-beam roofing * Drainage methods and self-adhesive waterproofing membranes The time-tested, easy-to-learn construction techniques described in Earth-Sheltered Houses will enable readers to embark upon their own building projects with confidence, backed up by a comprehensive resources section that lists all the latest products such as waterproofing membranes, types of rigid insulation, and drainage products that will protect the building against water damage and heat loss. Rob Roy is a former contractor with 27 years of experience and 12 previous books to his credit, including Cordwood Building and Timber Framing for the Rest of Us. An expert on underground building, he founded the Earthwood Building School in 1981 with his wife, Jaki, and is frequently a speaker at events throughout North America.

The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering. Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food. Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies - working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.Steve Solomon is a well-known west coast gardener and author of five previous books, including Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades which has appeared in five editions.

Start a peaceful revolution by planting an edible ecosystem and sharing the experience with your neighborsHumans have always thrived in rich, diverse, edible ecosystems. Yet most cities and suburbs are blanketed by lawns, ornamentals, and a lack of biodiversity, let alone anything edible. It is within these sterile landscapes that seeds of an edible ecosystem lie. The Edible Ecosystem Solution is a comprehensive, practical guidebook that looks at underutilized spaces to reveal the many opportunities for landscape transformation that are both far-reaching and immediately beneficial and enjoyable. Contents include: Hundreds of full-color infographics, illustrations, and photographs that clearly outline the principles and concepts of edible landscape design and benefits How to get started with as little as 25 square feet of land How to transition a garden plot into a place of edible abundance and an edible biodiversity hot spot, living laboratory, and a source point for transitioning and transforming community and culture Choosing appropriate plants for insects, wildlife, and food production Scaling up and networking backyard edible ecosystems at the neighborhood level and beyond to build community food security and resilience. The Edible Ecosystem Solution is for everyone with access to a bit of yard, a desire for food security, biodiversity, and a beautiful and resilient community, and for anyone who wants to reclaim humanity's place in a rich, abundant, edible ecosystem.